Riemann Hypothesis: Nigerian professor says ‘I have solved it’

Opeyemi Enoch presenting his solution at the International Conference on Mathematics and Computer Science 2015, Vienna.

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Riemann Hypothesis solution sought after 156-year wait

Solution must be published and accepted by the mathematics community before $1m prize can be claimed

(CNN)Nigerian professor Opeyemi Enoch Wednesday insisted he has found a solution to the complex Riemann Hypothesis.

Following several media reports casting doubt on his claim, Enoch said: “I have a proof and the mathematics community is behind me.”

The senior lecturer in mathematics at the Federal University in Oye Ekiti, Nigeria, said the project behind solving the 156-year-old math puzzle had taken “seven good years” and that comments from detractors had not dampened his sense of achievement.

“People have the privilege and the right to say whatever they want to say,” he said, adding “I have not really been giving attention to some of the comments.”

Enoch said he first delivered his findings on November 11 at the International Conference on Mathematics and Computer Science held in Vienna, in an oral presentation called “A Matrix That Generates the Point Spectral of the Riemann Zeta Function.”

Nina Ringo, a member of the conference committee, said in an email statement: “I consider his results to be very important and confirm his discovery.”

Solving the complex Riemann Hypothesis, which involves the distribution of prime numbers, comes with a $1million prize awarded by the Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI).

Enoch’s says his findings are due for publication by a journal attached to the Vienna conference on December 1. He said he would pass on his paper to the CMI then.

However , it could be years before the CMI accept his solution and award him the prize.

Announced in 2000, as of yet only one has been officially solved, the Poincare Conjecture by Grigoriy Perelman, to whom the prize was offered in 2010. However Perelman refused to accept the award — as he had the Fields Prize in 2006.